Iowa State University Alumni Association| online edition | fall 2002

FALL 2002
Home

Cover Story:
The Knoll

Feature Story:
Two voices

Departments:
Getting Started
Letters
On Campus
Alumni Profile
Association News
>>Giving
Sports

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A GIFT

7 a.m. A student intern wends his way through the rose bushes at Reiman Gardens, tending his charges before heading to class.

10 a.m. A junior engineering major checks her
e-mail in a Durham Center computer lab.

1 p.m. A prospective student and her mother enjoy lunch in the Joan Bice Underwood Tea Room.

5 p.m. A student athlete arrives at the Jacobson Building for team practice.

10 p.m. An undergraduate research assistant closes his notebook and turns off the lights in the new high-tech chemistry lab where he works alongside a distinguished professor.

Every hour of every day, the effects of private giving at Iowa State University are powerful and
ever-present. And never is that magnitude as evident as when it touches and transforms the lives of ISU students. Here are just three of those success stories.

Jason Richard
Though most of his activities at Dubuque Senior High revolved around athletics and music, Jason Richard knew he wanted to study engineering in college. Iowa State seemed the perfect choice – except for the tab. As the oldest of three children raised by a single mother, Richard knew he needed financial assistance if an ISU education was in his future.

It was.

At the beginning of his freshman year, Richard was one of 100 recipients of the Christina Hixson Opportunity Award, which provides $10,000 over four years for tuition. Recently, because of his academic accomplishments, Richard was awarded additional scholarship monies from the National Science Foundation that will pay his remaining educational expenses until he graduates.

Credit Richard’s initiative for his success. He spent the summer in Washington, D.C., as an intern at the Naval Research Laboratory. There, he wrote diagnostics programs to assist in the design of new multi-function radar systems. He’ll most likely end up back in the nation’s capital after receiving his degree in electrical and computer engineering, pursuing a career in information assurance with an organization like the National Security Agency.

“Without the Hixson scholarship, my college education would have been more expensive and very stressful,” Richard says. “Being in the Hixson seminar classes helped me meet so many new people through good networking. These classes have taught me to go outside my norm, and not just stick with people in my own major. It’s really broadened my horizons.”

Katie McMahon
Coming from a small high school in northeast Iowa could have been overwhelming for Katie McMahon. But thanks to ISU’s Design Exchange, she found a new home fast.

McMahon’s “home” in Linden Hall is part of the College of Design’s learning community, aptly titled the Design Exchange. Design students live together in the residence hall and share common studio space and computer labs. Upperclass design students serve as their peer mentors, and design seminars coach them in topics ranging from portfolio development to study-abroad opportunities.

But McMahon’s Iowa State welcome was enhanced by an equally significant opportunity – the Helen Beresford/Frances Seeds Scholarship, awarded annually by the college’s Art and Design Department to a first-year student.

“This scholarship has made a huge difference in my life,” says McMahon, who hails from Cresco. “I couldn’t have come to Iowa State without it. And I really wanted to come here, because the design programs and the career placement are so good.”

McMahon received considerable support for choosing Iowa State from her high school art teacher and father, Tim McMahon. “Katie’s first year was a great growing, learning experience,” her father says. “Not only was the scholarship great for us financially, but the work she’s been assigned has been challenging and forward-moving, and she’s learned a lot about living on her own.”

Denise Williams
Perhaps nothing is as endearing as the “orientation family” – parents, new to the campus, looking slightly bewildered; their incoming offspring waffling between wound up and wary. But when a top-notch student like Denise Williams appears at their sides, you can almost hear the collective sigh of relief.

Williams, a junior majoring in psychology and English, works as a Cyclone Aide, providing campus tours and orientation assistance for the Admissions Office. This past summer, she served as a Cyclone Aide adviser and as a caller for the Telstar program, offering support and encouragement to new students.

What parents wouldn’t want their child to hang out with the likes of Williams? She graduated from high school in Bellevue, Neb., and, because of her many accomplishments, was awarded one of ISU’s National Achievement Scholarships, which provides tuition, room, and board to high-achieving African-American students.

At Iowa State, Williams has served as president of her residence hall house and is involved with Alpha Phi Omega, a service fraternity. She is a freshman seminar leader for the ISU Honors Program. This year, she is a community adviser in the new suites residence near Friley and Helser halls. And she is a George Washington Carver Scholarship recipient and an active member of the Carver Academy, which assists students in excelling both academically and in campus leadership positions.

“Without these scholarships, I wouldn’t have come to Iowa State,” Williams says. “I would have missed out on all these activities and opportunities that have opened my eyes to many different career paths. My experience at Iowa State has had a huge impact on what I want to do with the rest of my life.”

About the Writer | Debra Gibson was a staff writer for University Relations.